Inspired by the current winter season and Shakespeare’s A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream, this fashion/beauty shoot creates, as the name suggests, a dream-like scene, where faeries and nymphs play in the snow.

Though you would think Lauren is a professional model, her day job is actually being the Manager of the Learning and Teaching Office at Ryerson University. This natural bombshell had never modelled before, but she came before the camera like she was born to it.

These photographs, made for my Advanced Portrait Photography class, form part of a basic foundation-building assignment. Photographed using a single strobe in the studio, they show a basic understanding of Butterfly and Rembrandt lighting. Only the first two images were used for the assignment, the rest were some favourite take-outs.

A big thank you to my gorgeous friend Madonna, who never complains, no matter how many lights I flash in her face.

I am happy to share this restored image of my mom when she was only 5 years old. A recent visit of my grandmother has given me possession of many family photographs, so the near future shall bring many restorations.

Dale Chihuly is an American glass artist whose unique works of blown glass move into the “realm of large-scale sculpture.” For the first time, some of his works are being shown in Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum (June 25, 2016 – January 2, 2017).

These photographs show my journey through the exhibition and Chihuly’s incredible artworks.

Upon noticing that the different process images for my still life flowed together like a stop-motion video, I decided to make one. This ends up as a making-of video for the final image, showing my process while capturing the photograph. Finally, the stark difference from the last process image, to the final image shows the work that happens behind the scenes, in post-production.

This tiny series offers a closer look into its parent image, “Souvenirs from Home.” The still life presents my collection of trinkets and keepsakes from my visits home to Cuba and speaks to the yearning of immigrants to keep pieces of their faraway home close by. It also offers an interesting look at the things we believe represent our countries.

In-Between is a portrait of my sister which I made for my Advanced Studio Lighting class. I decided to focus on her, in her room, because she is at a stage now where she is no longer a child, not yet a teen. An undefined stage that is not easily seen, there are always slight clues. My sister’s room is obviously the room of a little girl, there are toys and plushies as far as the eyes can see, and yet the focus is on her tablet, and the purple hairband has been thrown unceremoniously onto the bed. She is growing up and changing, but we refuse to accept it.

1919 My great-great-grandmother, Olivia Valcarcel. The picture was taken in April 13, 1919. Though she seems to have black hair in this photo, her hair was actually red, which is where my dad gets it from She wrote: To mi beloved grandmother as a keepsake from her granddaughter – Olivia

1919 My great-great-grandmother, Olivia Valcarcel. The picture was taken in April 13, 1919. Though she seems to have black hair in this photo, her hair was actually red, which is where my dad gets it from She wrote: To mi beloved grandmother as a keepsake from her granddaughter – Olivia

1920 Another photograph of Olivia Valcarcel, my great-great-grandmother, this time on January 10, 1920. She wrote: “To my beloved Ventura, as a keepsake of his love” – Olivia

1920 Another photograph of Olivia Valcarcel, my great-great-grandmother, this time on January 10, 1920. She wrote: “To my beloved Ventura, as a keepsake of his love” – Olivia

1918 My great-great-grandfather, Ventura Isusi Valcarcer, taken in September 9, 1918, Limonar, Matanzas. The photo is addressed twice: “To my beloved friend Olivia, from her friend, Isusi” “Keep it as a memory of our firs love, and take with this portrait a kiss and a hug, from your always V.I. Valcarcel”

1918 My great-great-grandfather, Ventura Isusi Valcarcer, taken in September 9, 1918, Limonar, Matanzas. The photo is addressed twice: “To my beloved friend Olivia, from her friend, Isusi” “Keep it as a memory of our firs love, and take with this portrait a kiss and a hug, from your always V.I. Valcarcel”

The photographs here restored come from my paternal grandfather, and date as far back as my red-haired, great-great grandmother.

This photograph is the perfect embodiment of what many animals in captivity feel, especially if their enclosure is too small or secluded. Here, this lonely bird stands on the tallest branch, as close as it can be to the small skylight which lets it see the sky outside.

This project is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, Thumbelina. More specifically, it is inspired by the 1994 movie of the same name, produced by Warner Brothers. In the story, an old woman is unable to have children, so she asks a fairy to help her. The fairy gives her a seed to plant, and from this is born a small maiden, no bigger than a thumb. The girl is unhappy being the only person her size, but after various adventures, she finds her place beside a fairy Prince, growing wings after he proposes and they kiss. At the moment of my photograph, Thumbelina has just found out about the existence of fairies from a book her mother has read. She asks for her book to be left with her when she goes to sleep. After her mother is gone, she begins to wonder what it would be like to find other people her size.

Ironically enough, this photo, of which I am particularly proud, the one which is perhaps the best of all I’ve taken, was entirely by chance. I was with my family in Niagara Falls and the seagulls were exceptionally restless, flying in circles and swooping down, trying to get food where they could. I plopped on my camera a very high shutter speed, pointed up, and shot. It was a beautiful result. At exactly the right time. Magically, at exactly the right speed. The seagull looks down at me the same way I look up at it; wishing we could trade places.